2.06 - The Sixth Betrayal

Once more we find ourselves in Europe and on the trail of The Mole. Several players are in confessional and talking about the game. Al says that at some point someone will do something to intentionally hurt the group. Katie hopes she is doing the right thing with her Coalition with Heather. "If she's the Mole then I'm an ass." she tells us.

Elavia wonders what the others are thinking. "Do you think I'm the Mole?" she asks. "Well, do ya, punk?

We find ourselves in the small Italian town of Barga where our players arrive to find Anderson waiting for them. He immediately asks them to split into three groups: those who love to cook, those who hate to cook and those who really don't care. The players quickly confer among themselves and we learn that Al, Dorothy and Heather love to cook, Bill, Katie and Myra hate to cook and that Bribs, Darwin and Elavia really don't care. Anderson tells the others to wait as he takes Bill, Katie and Myra away.

Down the road, he berates them a bit. "Don't you know how this game works?" he asks. "If you say you don't like to cook, you're going to wind up cooking. If you say you like to cook, then you don't get to cook." Katie gets a horrified look on her face as he finishes with "This is, like, basic Mole!"

He then tells them what they have to do. The three of them will have to bake at least three 12-inch pizzas. They have four hours to do so and must meet him with the pizzas at the plaza in front of the church of San Christofero by 7 pm. If they do, 20 thousand dollars will be added to the pot.

Katie asks if there is a catch and Anderson tells her there is always a catch. In this case, he is giving them a recipe for the pizzas (which contains 14 ingredient) and an Italian dictionary but none of the ingredients. They will have to go from door to door in Barga and beg for the ingredients. They are not allowed to go to any businesses for them and they are not allowed to pay for them in any way. Additionally, they can only get one ingredient from each house.

Finally, he tells them that if they do not get the pizzas to the plaza on time they not only will fail to earn the 20 thousand for the pot, they also will have nothing to eat that evening. Dictionary and recipe in hand, the three set off with Bill pulling a cart holding an insulated cooler.

Bill expresses frustration that Katie is a perfectionist and doesn't want to start asking anyone for help until she is sure of what she is trying to say. She wants to keep looking through the dictionary but Bill and Myra drag her to the first house and they ring the bell. At first they wonder why no one answers the door but Myra finally realizes that the people are leaning out of the second floor window instead of coming to the door. They stop at several houses but do not have any luck.

Meanwhile, Anderson has returned to the other two groups and told them that they do not get to cook. Instead, they will be responsible for bringing two bottle of red wine to the plaza in front of San Christofero. To get there, they will have to ride bicycles through the streets of Barga. For each bottle of wine they get to the plaza unbroken they will receive 5 thousand and if both of them make it in an hour and a half they will receive another 10 thousand.

They will have to ride one of two bicycles; an old beat-up one or a high-tech mountain bike. They will have to decide which bicycle to ride on appearance only; they cannot touch the bikes.

Heather promptly touches the mountain bike while examining it, prompting Anderson to ask "What part of 'Do not touch the bike' did you not understand?"

Dorothy says she wants to ride "the pinky one".
"That one doesn't even shift gears." says Bribs.
"I don't know how to shift gears anyway." she replies

Eventually, everyone splits into two groups. Al, Bribs and Heather will ride the old bike, while Darwin, Dorothy and Elavia will ride the new one. Anderson then tells them that image is important in Italy so they need to "look the part". He sends them off to change and we next see the players returning (in artistic slow motion) wearing spandex bicycle outfits and shirts.

Anderson tells them they have one hour and 45 minutes to reach the plaza and Al and Elavia start riding. (Al whispers "Oh my god" as he starts off.) The other players follow behind in vans. Anderson is observing from one of the vehicles and calls out to Elavia "Don't worry, it's all uphill from here."

Elavia gives out and Darwin takes over from her. Bribs takes over from Al. Anderson still can't resist giving the bikers a hard time from his van. With a drink in one hand he casually observes "These hills are a bitch." Darwin doesn't seem to appreciate the comment.

We briefly check back in with our pizza cookers to find out that one hour has passed and they have not yet gotten a single ingredient.

Back with the bikers, we see Al, back on the old bicycle, passing Darwin, who stops to pump more air into the tires of the mountain bike. In the van, Elavia says she is suspicious of Darwin because he keeps stopping to add air when the tires are already full. For his part, Darwin complains about being out of shape.

Bribs explains that they aren't planning on riding a particular amount of time each. Instead, one will ride until they are tired and another will take over. Some people don't last as long as others. Dorothy can barely reach the pedals on her first attempt and only rides a short distance before stopping and falling off the bike. Darwin has to take over again. Dorothy later admits "Physical games I'm not really good at."

Darwin simply moans "This bike is a piece of (deleted)" as he starts off again.

Meanwhile, with two and a half hours left the pizza bakers have found their first ingredient. In a flash of inspiration, Myra asks the person they got it from, a fifteen year old named Roberto who spoke both Italian and English, if he would come with them and help. After a very brief pause, he agrees.

Bill says that Roberto apparently knew everyone in town. One woman gives them an ingredient while Katie waters her plants. Another gives them all of the parmesan cheese she has; even grating it for them. With Roberto's help they are able to get all of the remaining ingredients in fifteen minutes.

The bicyclists are still making their way up the hill into town, along the way passing the phrase "The Mole will beat you" written on the road in colored chalk. They now have one hour left and we see Dorothy fall off the bike again. Once more Darwin takes over and Dorothy darts for the van. Elavia now says she is suspicious of Dorothy because she is having so much trouble with the bike.

Darwin says that neither Dorothy nor Elavia are helping that much. He says that Dorothy lasts a little while and Elavia a little longer but that neither of them last that long. He also complains about the "thousands" of flies that are now swarming around him and worries that he may inhale one of them and start choking. (There is a camera mounted on the handlebars of the bikes aimed at the riders and a fly has landed on it in this scene, causing the fly to almost fill the screen.)

Switching back to the other group, Roberto has led the pizza bakers to his sister's house so that they can use the kitchen there. With two hours left, the three start making the pizzas and generally seem to be having a good time. Bill says that he likes Myra while Myra admits that there were some strange black spots in the flour that they couldn't identify. Katie tries to reassure everyone by pointing out that "when you heat it up in the oven, all the bad stuff dies anyway."

Bill suggests adding a goldfish from a nearby bowl to the pizza but the others laugh at him. He puts a dab of flour on Myra's nose and she responds by wiping flour onto his shirt.

With 45 minutes remaining the bicyclists have reached a flatter stretch of the route. However, Heather is tired out and starts carrying the bicycle instead of riding it. Elavia complains that the first hour of the ride was uphill and Al comments that the Mole could easily throw the game by faking stomach cramps or something.

The pizza bakers have all three of their pizzas in the oven. They toast each other with a bottle of wine from somewhere and profusely thank Roberto and his sister. With the three pizzas safely in the cooler they set out for the plaza with only 20 minutes left.

The bicyclists have thirty minutes left on their route when Anderson shows up, eating a red apple and holding a bottle of red "La Mole" wine. Al, who is riding the bike at the time, takes it, carefully wraps it in cloth, and places it in the basket of the bicycle before taking off again. A brief time later, Anderson, now eating a green apple, gives a second bottle to Elavia on the mountain bike. He helpfully puts the wine in her backpack for her before sending her on her way.

With 10 minutes remaining the pizza bakers are still on their way to the plaza. Bill tries to lead them in one direction but both Katie and Myra insists on another (steeper) route. Katie lets out a "Holy steepness, Batman!" when she sees it and Myra comments that she feels sorry for Bill having to pull the heavy cart up the hill. Still, they arrive at the plaza with one (!) minute to spare.

As the church bells ring the hour Anderson arrives and tells them they have won the 20 thousand. Bill tells him they walked all over town and Katie starts to complain about the steep hills but Anderson suggests that they may not want to complain about steep too much when the others arrive.

The first bicycle team arrives at the foot of the stairs and Bribs picks up the bike to carry it. "I always get stuck with the physical stuff" he complains, but he easily carries the bike up the stairs to the cheers of the waiting players. They arrive with 13 minutes remaining.

"Viva La Talpa!" yells Al as he places the bottle of wine on the table. Then, he tells us "Now, I can sit down."

The second team arrives and Elavia falls off the bike at the foot of the stairs. Darwin picks it up and carries it. Everyone cheers as they arrive with 10 minutes remaining. Al enthusiastically greets Darwin while Dorothy mentions that she is happy that Darwin was on their team.

Anderson congratulates them and tells them that since everyone completed their tasks successfully that they have won a total of 40 thousand for the pot, bringing the total there to 246 thousand. He also tells them that if they had failed then they would have been hungry since the pizza is all they have to eat that evening.

Myra says, somewhat embarrassed, that if she had known that the pizza was all they were going to have to eat then she might have washed her hands before making it. We see Heather picking something out of her pizza and Bill says that they didn't mention the dark spots in the flour to the others until later. "We didn't know where they were" he says, "so no sense in mentioning them and upsetting their stomachs early."

Darwin says that he wishes they had made more than three pizzas since he was still hungry. He says that Bribs and Heather were hungry also and that Al was always hungry.

Bill tells us that when everyone descended the steps to the van after dinner there was a restaurant across the street with an ice cream case. He and Darwin both went over and bought ice cream bars. Bill finished his before getting back to the van but Darwin kept his to eat on the ride back. Several people expressed surprise when they saw him with it and a few seemed to be upset. "It's not like it's an Exemption, guys." Darwin tried to assure them. "It's just an ice cream cone."

Back at their hotel, Dorothy and Elavia reveal that they are entering a Coalition. Elavia says she may as well since Dorothy has her old journal (from the journal switch back in episode 3). Dorothy thinks this is funny since, according to Elavia's journal, she is one of the people Elavia suspects of being the Mole. She asks about this and Elavia responds "Well, if you are the Mole there's no point in giving you wrong information." The two begin to compare notes.

The next morning, the players arrive for breakfast and find a plate of blueberries on the table. On the plate is written the message "Are you the one?" Al is happy that there was a clue that he didn't miss while Elavia is reminded of the Blueberry Game from episode 2 where Dorothy and Lisa got an Exemption. She figures something involving an Exemption is coming up.

Anderson appears and greets them with "It seems like yesterday you all sort of decided it would be a good day to break the rules." He points out that Heather touched the bicycle even after he had told her twice not to and that Bill and Darwin both got ice cream even though the pizza was supposed to be the only thing they had to eat. Even though there were two infractions he says he will treat them as one and only fine the pot by 10 thousand dollars. He points out that the last rule infraction cost them 5 thousand and that the next one will be 20 thousand. He then tells them to meet him at the Chiesa di San Salvatore at 5 pm and leaves.

Al says that Heather's touching the bicycle was probably just an absent-minded mistake while Bribs says that he either wasn't hungry or it didn't cross his mind because otherwise he probably would have gone for ice cream himself. Elavia, on the other hand, did find Heather's touching of the bicycle suspicious.

For her part, Heather says that she didn't actually touch the bicycle but just touched the elastic strap on the back so she felt that in a real court she could get off on a technicality. Darwin simply comments that he essentially had a 10 thousand dollar ice cream bar.

At five, everyone arrives at the church and sits in a separate pew. Anderson arrives, carrying a stack of cards, and tells them "Life is full of tough choices. Today, I'm going to ask you to make some tough choices." He hands them the cards and tells them to rank their fellow players in order from most-liked to least-liked.

Darwin says that whoever is ranked first or last overall will get an Exemption. Dorothy simply worries that everyone's list will be made public. Katie says she will vote for who she trusts the most.

When everyone is done Anderson tells all of them to go outside with the exception of Al. He tells the others not to discuss their lists and then asks Al for his.

Al crosses himself as Anderson comments that he has put Bribs first and Dorothy last. Al says this is because Bribs reminds him of himself when he was 23 and that he and Dorothy have nothing in common. Anderson sends him out and asks him to send Darwin in.

Darwin has put Katie first and Bill last. He says he put Katie first because he thought most of the other players didn't like her much and he wanted her to have at least one good vote. He put Bill last because he can't sleep when he rooms with Bill. Apparently Bill snores.

One by one the other players give their answers to Anderson. Dorothy doesn't like Bill because they have nothing in common and she wouldn't want to spend a lot of time with him. Katie likes Heather because they are the same age and have a lot in common. Elavia simply put the players in alphabetical order in her list but says she does like Al the most and likes Myra the least but only because she has spent the least time with her.

Heather put Elavia last because she doesn't trust her. Bill repeats that he likes Myra and Bribs puts Katie last because he (and most of the other players, apparently) can only take her in small doses. Myra puts Elavia last because of the way she has played the games. "I like 'em all." she tells Anderson. "I just don't trust 'em."

Outside, Darwin speculates that the least liked player will be either Elavia or Katie. Dorothy wonders how people will react as the game continues and says that "everyone's going to have to crack a little bit."

Anderson exits the church and motions for Elavia to follow him. Back inside, he tells her that she has been voted the least liked player. She admits that she isn't really surprised.

Anderson then offers her a deal. He offers her an Exemption but tells her that if she turns it down he will add five thousand dollars to the pot. He says this may help her improve the other player's opinion of her. She takes the Exemption.

He increases the offer to 10 thousand and Elavia says she will still take the Exemption. He then ups the offer again, this time to 15 thousand. Elavia asks if he plans to keep increasing his offer until she takes it and he simply shrugs. She says she will still take the Exemption.

However, Anderson does not increase the offer again. He congratulates her on her Exemption and calls the other players inside. Elavia tells the other players of Anderson's offer and her decision to keep the Exemption.

Most of the players accept this and Darwin asks what price she would have taken. She says 30 thousand and most everyone seems to think this would have been a fair price. Heather asks if she found out anything else about their rankings and she says no. Everyone then leaves. Later, in an interview, Myra tells Elavia that she was as loved as anyone else in the group, then pauses and adds "Maybe love is too strong of a word."

In interviews, Darwin says he thinks 30 thousand was about right. Katie says she would have given the Exemption up for 10 thousand so that they would have made back the money they lost in penalties. Myra also says she would have given it up for 30 thousand but that she wouldn't blame Elavia even if she wouldn't give it up for 100 thousand.

Later, at dinner, Myra leads a toast for Elavia, telling her "it's just a game". Anderson begins the after-dinner story telling session and asks everyone to tell the most trouble they've ever been in.

Katie tells about a time that she was in Times Square and couldn't find a restroom. She went behind a building and started to go when she was arrested for public urination. Al told a long and improbable but very expressive story about trying to break into his ex-wife's apartment, being chased by police and jumping from building to building. Bribs says that when he was four his mother caught him peeing on his two year old sister's head.

After dinner, everyone returns to their hotel. (Everyone enters through the same door except for Darwin, who enters another door.) Al and Darwin are sharing a room and Al reveals that he has formed a Coalition with Darwin. They agree to share information if they both survive the next Execution.

Al says that he needs a Coalition because the game is getting harder but that he doesn't plan to share everything he finds. Darwin points out that he was in a coalition with Lisa before she was Executed, that he is in a second coalition with Bribs and now he has entered one with Al. He also mentions to Al that his top two candidates for the Mole are Elavia and Dorothy.

Then, it is time for the Execution quiz. Al mentions that he suspects Elavia because he has trouble reading her, then adds that people watching at home are probably yelling "No, you idiot! It's Bill!" Darwin says that if he were the Mole he would try to do something small, like Heather's touching the bicycle. Bill, on the other hand, suspects Darwin because he has made some "glaring errors".

Bribs says that Heather wants him to vote for Elavia. Myra only says that she has a single candidate and plans to put all of her answers on that person and work as fast as possible. Dorothy suspects Bribs because he was the "most player like player". Katie says she doesn't trust Bill and that she even followed him into the kitchen whenever they were cooking the pizzas.

We see images of the moon, several statues and a black cat then everyone arrives for the Execution. Anderson comments on Al and Bill's hair, which they have spiked like Rob's, who was Executed last episode. He then tells them that they have a tie and that the player with the slowest time will be Executed. He then sits and starts typing in names.

It is over quickly. The first name he enters is Myra's and the red screen o' death immediately comes up. Apparently she had picked the wrong person to be the Mole. There is a collective gasp of surprise as she gets up, collects her bag and leaves with Anderson.

Al comments that he barely had time to realize what had happened before she was gone and that he was still waiting for Anderson to type his name in. Katie says that Myra always played her heart out and Dorothy says that she never gave herself enough credit. Bill says he will miss her.

Outside with Anderson, Myra admitted that the more she was in the game the more she realized that she didn't know. "These have been some of the most incredible weeks of my life." she tells Anderson, then leaves a message for the remaining players. "Play hard, play well, and win." With a final goodbye to Anderson, she gets into the car and is driven away, leaving the remaining eight players behind.

Correction. Seven players. And one Mole.

Katie (a Spanish teacher) wants to take a lot of time getting the grammar correct before asking for anything in the Homemade Pizza Game.

Heather touches the bicycle even when told not to do so and thus earning a penalty in the Bike the Mountain Game.

Darwin keeps stopping to put air in the tires of the bicycle in the Bike the Mountain Game.

Dorothy can barely ride the bicycle in the Bike the Mountain Game.

Bill tries to lead the players in the wrong direction when heading for the plaza in the Homemade Pizza Game.

Bill and Darwin both get ice cream, breaking the rules and earning a penalty after the Homemade Pizza and Bike the Mountain games.

Elavia turns down a chance to add money to the pot in exchange for an Exemption in the Most Favorite/Least Favorite Player Game.

Be seeing you...